Systems and methods for linking an issue with an entry in a knowledgebase

ABSTRACT

An embodiment relates generally to a method of linking. The method includes receiving a message associated with at least one technical issue being resolved in a first system and containing non-confidential information and searching a knowledgebase in a second system based on the message to obtain at least one related entry. The method also includes associating at least one related entry with the non-confidential information of the message, updating at least one related entry with the non-confidential information, or creating a new entry with the non-confidential information, in the knowledgebase.

FIELD

This invention relates generally to a knowledgebase, more particularly,to systems and methods for linking closed issues in a support databasewith the knowledgebase.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Computers and software have become critical tools in today's informationbased society. Computers and software have provided tools to users togreatly increase work efficiencies. However, with the advantagesprovided by computers and software come occasional technical problemsassociated with the computers and software applications. A typicalsolution to a computer and software technical problem is to contact atechnical support person. A user can use a variety of methods to contacta technical support person, e.g., call a designated telephone number,open a chat session, send an email, etc. No matter which method a userchooses to contact a technical support person, a support ticket in acase management tool is created for a particular user's particulartechnical problem. Case management systems are generally well knownsystems such as Numara Help Desk™, Sinergia Help Desk™, Issue Tracker,etc.

The support ticket can initially contain a variety of information suchas a description of the problem, i.e., a support issue, reporting user,assigned personnel, contact information, etc. As the support issue isresolved the support technician updates the support ticket withinformation describing how the solution was resolved. Once the supportissue is resolved, the ticket and its respective solution are storedwithin a database of the case management system.

The solutions to the resolved support issues can be of great interest toa wide audience of users. However, the solutions to resolved supportissues are not distributed because case management systems are typicallyclosed since they often contain sensitive information. In most cases,the summary and resolution of the case is of interest to the wideraudience. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to obtain informationfrom a closed system to an open system, which can then be disseminatedto the wider audience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various features of the embodiments can be more fully appreciated, asthe same become better understood with reference to the followingdetailed description of the embodiments when considered in connectionwith the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary system in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG, 2 illustrates an exemplary service portal of the system shown inFIG. 1 in accordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary knowledgebase linker shown in FIG. 1 inaccordance with yet another embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary issue notification graphical userinterface in accordance with yet another embodiment;

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary closed ticket schema in accordance with yetanother embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram in accordance with yetanother embodiment;

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary computing platform in accordance with yetanother embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the presentinvention are described by referring mainly to exemplary embodimentsthereof. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would readilyrecognize that the same principles are equally applicable to, and can beimplemented in, all types of information and service portals, and thatany such variations do not depart from the true spirit and scope of thepresent invention. Moreover, in the following detailed description,references are made to the accompanying figures, which illustratespecific embodiments. Electrical, mechanical, logical and structuralchanges may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. The following detailed descriptionis, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of thepresent invention is defined by the appended claims and theirequivalents.

Embodiments relate generally to systems and methods for a knowledgebaselinker that can be configured to link closed support issues with entriesin a knowledgebase in a two-stage close. More particularly, a user cancontact a help desk of a service portal to resolve a technical issue. Ansupport ticket can be created in a case management system to assist asupport technician or engineer, i.e., service agent, to resolve thereported issue. When the ticket is resolved, the underlying casemanagement system can store the closed ticket as a first stage of thetwo-stage close as well as to associate the closed ticket with theknowledgebase linker.

The knowledgebase linker can be configured to extract key words from thereceived close ticket to perform a key word search in the knowledgebase.The key words dictionary can be determined by the technical supportstaff, user community or combinations thereof. The keyword search in theknowledgebase can return related entries from the knowledgebase

The knowledgebase linker can then provide the related entries to theassigned service agent. The knowledgebase linker can generate an issuenotification graphical user interface (“GUT”), e.g., a web page, thatdisplays a list of related entries associated with the closed ticket aswell as an option to add a new entry in the event of the searchgenerating no results. The knowledgebase linker can then forward theissue notification GUI or a link thereto to the assigned service agentby electronic messaging (electronic mail, instant messaging, etc.). Theservice agent can select the appropriate related entries of the listedentries, supplement the selected related entries with additionaldescription and/or create a new entry for the knowledgebase on the issuenotification GUI. The knowledgebase linker can then update theknowledgebase with the relevant information from the closed ticket tothe knowledgebase as the second stage of the two-stage close.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 in accordance with anembodiment. It should be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art that the system 100 depicted in FIG. 1 represents a generalizedschematic illustration and that other components may be added orexisting components may be removed or modified. Moreover, the system 100may be implemented using software components, hardware components, orcombinations thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 includes users 105, a network 110 anda service portal 115. The users 105 can be private individuals,employees of private business or public entities or other personsinterested in accessing the service portal 115. The users 105 can accessthe service portal 115 using personal computers, personal mobiledevices, workstations or other networked computing platforms.

The network 110 can be a combination of wide area and local areanetworks such as the Internet. The network 110 can be configured toprovide a communication channel between the users 105 and the serviceportal 115. The network 110 can implement a variety of network protocolsto provide the communication channel such as Internet Protocol (“IP”)Vx, ATM, SONET, or other similar network protocols.

The service portal 115 can be configured to provide products andservices to the user 105 as well as provisioning, installation services,updates to software and hardware products, and technical support. Theservice portal 115 can, among other functions, provide a list ofproducts such as software applications and/or hardware devices as wellas services such as installation, configuration, maintenance, etc., forusers to purchase. As a non-limiting example, the service portal 115 canalso provide information for users to research, compare and purchasesoftware, hardware and consulting services in support of those softwareand/or hardware purchases. The service portal 115 can also be configuredto provide support services by subscription to those same software,service, and/or hardware purchase.

In accordance with various embodiments, the service portal 115 can beconfigured to provide a knowledge library 120. The knowledge library 120provides a resource for users to resolve a variety of user issues,including technical issues regarding products and/or services providedby the service portal 115. The knowledge library 120 can contain aknowledgebase (labeled as Kbase) 125, forum(s) 130, frequently askedquestions, or other types of electronic self-help services. Theknowledgebase 125 can comprise of a database of Wiki-style articles thatcan be searched, revised and added thereto. The forums 130 can provide amechanism for user with issues or problems to post questions and receiveassistance from the user community.

The service portal 115 can also provide a help desk 135 that issupported by service agents. If a user has the proper entitlement statusfor access to the help desk 135, a user can contact a service agent forassistance with a technical issue for products and/or services purchasedfrom the service portal 115. The user can contact the service agentusing a chat server 140 that provides for chat services, instantmessaging services and/or VoIP services. Alternatively, the user cansubmit a written description of the technical issue, current equipmentconfiguration, and other written information through an issue submissionform submitted through electronic messaging techniques. Theelectronically submitted issue can be automatically processed by thecase management system 145 to generate a ticket and assigned a firstavailable service agent.

The service agent can also create a ticket in the case management system145 to track the submitted technical issue and insert a description ofthe issue and other related information on the ticket. The ticket canassist the service agent in managing the resolution of the issue anddocumenting the resolution of the technical issue. When the issue isresolved, the ticket is deemed closed and stored in an associateddatabase of the case management system 145 as stage one of the two-stageclose. The case management system 145 can then associate a copy or alink of the closed ticket to the knowledgebase linker 145.

The knowledgebase linker 150 can be configured to provide a link for therelevant information regarding the issue description, software/hardwareconfiguration and issue resolution to the knowledgebase 125. Moreparticularly, the knowledgebase linker 150 can extract key words from areceived close ticket to perform a key word search in the knowledgebase125 on the received closed ticket, where the key words are obtained froma key words dictionary. The key words dictionary can be determined bythe technical support staff, user community or a combinations thereof.The keyword search in the knowledgebase 125 can return related entries.

The knowledgebase linker 150 can then provide the related entries to theassigned service agent of the closed ticket or the first availableservice agent depending on the embodiment. The knowledgebase linker 150can generate a related issue graphical user interface (“GUI”, e.g., aweb page) That displays a list of related entries associated with theclosed ticket, problem description, problem resolution, any systemconfiguration information, an editing option, and an option to add a newentry in the event of the search returning no results.

The knowledgebase linker 150 can then notify the assigned service agentabout the related issue GUI by directly forwarding the related issue GUIor a link thereto by electronic messaging techniques (electronic mail,instant messaging, etc.). The service agent can select the appropriaterelated entries that already exists in the knowledgebase 125, supplementany selected related entries with additional description that allow theagent to relate an existing entry to the case, and/or create a new entryfor the knowledgebase 125 through the related issues GUI. When theservice agent activates a submit widget on the related issue GUI, theknowledgebase linker 150 can then update the knowledgebase 125 with therelevant information for the selected related entries as a second stageof the two-stage close in the case management system 145.

FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed block diagram of the service portal115 in accordance with another embodiment. It should be readily apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art that the service portal 115depicted in FIG. 2 represents a generalized schematic illustration andthat other components may be added or existing components may be removedor modified.

As shown in FIG. 2, the service portal 115 can include a web storemodule 205 that a user can interface with the service portal. The webstore module 205 can provide the graphical user interfaces (“GUIs”) andassociated functions and/or services for the service portal 115. As annon-limiting example, the web store module 205 can generate a log-in GUIfor a user to authenticate and enter the service portal 115.

The web store module 205 can couple with an application programinterface (“API”) module 210. The API module 210 can be configured toprovide an interface between the functions and/or services provided bythe web store module 205 and to the appropriate module of the serviceportal 115. More particularly, the API module 210 can call or direct arequested function or service from the user to the respective modulethat provides that requested function or service. For example, a usermay request a price of a product, e g., an electronic mail program, theAPI module 210 can direct the request to a get price function in asupport tools module 215.

The API module 210 can also be configured to interface with the supporttools module 215. The support tools module 215 can be configured toprovide the supporting software and hardware to implement thefunctionality of the service portal 115. The support tools module 215can contain and provide access to databases that contain informationsuch as products lines, services providers, on-line self-help (e.g.,knowledgebase 125), etc, The support tools module 215 can also provideservices like a chat services, a help desk, installation, provisioning,etc.

The API module 210 can be further configured to couple with anidentification (“ID”) module 220. The ID module 220 can be configured toprovide identification management services for the service portal 115.The ID module 220 can also store information related to users such aspurchase history, user profile, usage history of the user, andentitlement data.

The API module 210 can be further configured to couple with a universalmessaging module 225. The universal messaging module 225 can beconfigured to provide a messaging application that unifies messages.More specifically, electronic mail (“email”), documents, and instantmessaging can be linked in a single application. The universal messagingmodule 225 can also provide a mechanism for a user to view all therelated documents for the user from email to Wiki pages.

An installer tools 230 can be coupled to the API module 210. One of theservices provided by the service portal 115 can be the purchase ofsoftware applications provided by independent software vendors (“ISVs”).As part of the delivery of the software applications, the ISV can berequired to maintain and update the installation tools to install theirrespective software applications. Accordingly, the installer tools 230can be a repository where independent software vendors can deposit theirrespective installation tools.

The API module 210 can be further coupled to the communication layer 235(labeled as COMM layer in FIG. 2). The communication layer 235 can beconfigured to provide the underlying services for the modules of theservice portal 115 to communicate. For example, the communication layer235 can contain middleware for a product database to communicate with agraphical user interface requesting a product description.

The API module 210 can be further coupled to an application managementmodule 240 (labeled as APP MGMT in FIG. 2). The application managementmodule 240 can be configured to manage applications as requested byusers. More specifically, a user may purchase a prepackaged softwareapplication pack (e.g., an operating system, electronic mail program anddata mining program) from the service portal 115, which is stored in anapplication stack module 245. The application management module 240 canthen deliver the purchased software application stack, install andconfigure the software application stack at a third party site such as aserver farm 250 or store the software application stack in a storagefarm 255 for the user to retrieve.

The server farm 250 can be configured to provide computing platforms forusers to lease. Accordingly, users can have a backup version of theirsystems, a testing platform to perform quality assurance tests on newapplications, execute a program requiring excess MIPS, or any othersimilar computing task.

The storage farm 255 can be configured to provide storage space forusers to lease. Accordingly, users can lease disk storage space to backup data, provide a hot data swap, or other storage intensive tasks.

In some embodiments, the knowledgebase linker 150 can be configured tobe executed in the support tools module 215. In other embodiments, theknowledgebase linker 150 can be executed as a standalone module.

FIG. 3 depicts a more detailed block diagram of the knowledgebase linker150 in accordance with another embodiment. It should be readily apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art that the knowledgebase linker 150depicted in FIG. 3 represents a generalized schematic illustration andthat other components may be added or existing components may be removedor modified.

As shown in FIG. 3, the knowledgebase linker 150 can comprise a controlmodule 305, a user interface module 310, a case management interface(labeled as “CASE MANAGEMENT I/F” in FIG. 3) module 315, and aknowledgebase interface (labeled as “KBASE I/F” in FIG. 3) 320. Itshould be readily obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that thedepicted modules 305-320 can be implemented as software applications(programmed in C, C++, JAVA, PHP, etc.), hardware components (EEPROM,application specific integrated circuit, microprocessor, etc.) orcombinations thereof.

The control module 305 can be configured to manage and interface withthe other modules 310-320 to provide the functionality of theknowledgebase linker 150 as described above and further described hereinbelow.

The user interface module 310 can be configured to generate graphicaluser interfaces (“GUIs”) as required by the control module 305. Forexample, the user interface module 310 can generate an issuenotification GUI and/or a link to the issue notification GUI. The issuenotification GUI can notify the assigned service agent a list of relatedentries in the knowledgebase 125 based on a key word search of areceived closed ticket, an option to add entries and an option to modifycurrent entries or other related information. An example of the issuenotification GUI is shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary issue notification GUI 400 in accordancewith yet another embodiment. The GUI 400 is merely illustrative andother variations of the GUI 400 are well within the contemplatedembodiments. The GUI 400 can be implemented as a graphical pageimplemented in XML, HTM, SGML, or other mark-up language.

As shown in FIG. 4, the issue notification GUI 400 comprises of selectorbuttons 405A-N, which are respectively associated with entry text boxes410A-N and selector button 415, which is associated with add entry textbox 420. The issue notification GUI 400 also comprises of an issuedescription text box 425, an issue solution text box 430, a systemconfiguration text box 435, a submit button 440, and a later button 445.

The entry text boxes 410A-N can each store a related entry from theknowledgebase 125 that was returned on a key word search extracted froma received closed ticket. The number of entry text boxes 410A-N isdependent on the number of found related entries from the knowledgebase125. The entry text boxes 410A-N can also be editable to allow theservice agent to create a new entry for the knowledgebase 125.

Accordingly, the service agent can select any number of related entriesto update with the relevant and non-confidential information, i.e., theissue description, issue resolution and system configuration, from thereceived close ticket. The selected entries of entry text boxes 410A-Ncan then be updated with the relevant information.

The add entry text box 420 can be text box that the service agent canadd a new entry for the knowledgebase 125 in the event that the serviceagent is not satisfied with the existing list of related entries or thekey word search did not return any results. The activation of associatedselector button 415 will update the information contained in the addentry text box 420 to the knowledgebase 125 with the relevantinformation from the closed ticket.

The issue description text box 425 can contain a description of theissue that was retrieved from the closed ticket. This text box 425 canalso be editable by the service agent to supplement the description orto remove confidential information. The issue solution text box 430 cancontain a description of the resolution of the issue. In some cases, theissue may not be resolved because it was traced to a known bug beingresolved by the vendor. The system configuration text box 435 cancontain a description of the computer system of the reporting user whichcan include hardware, software, and configuration information.

The submit button 440 can be configured to update the knowledgebase 125with any selected related entries for text boxes 410A-N and 420 byactivation of the respective selector buttons 405A-N and 415. In oneupdate process, the text from the issue description text box 425, theissue resolution text box 430, and the system configuration text box 430is updated to the knowledgebase 125 to the selected related entries.Alternatively, the knowledgebase linker 150 can update the relatedentries with links to an issue description field, an issue resolutionfield, and a system configuration field of the database record for theclosed tickets. An example of the schema for a closed ticket is depictedin FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary closed ticket record 500 in accordancewith yet another embodiment. It should be readily apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art that the closed ticket record 500 shown inFIG. 5 represents a generalized schematic illustration and that otherfields can be added or existing fields can be removed or modified.

As shown in FIG. 5, the closed ticket record 500 can comprise a ticketnumber (labeled as “TICKET NO.”) field 505, a service agent field 510, auser field 515, an initial date field 520, a stage one closed date(labeled as “S1 CLOSE DATE”) field 525, a stage two close date (labeledas “S2 CLOSE DATE”) field 530 an issue description field 535, an issueresolution field 540, and a system configuration field 545.

The ticket number field 505 can store the ticket number of the ticket.The ticket number can be a numerical identification method to referencethe issue. The service agent field 510 can store The identity of theservice agent working on the issue. The user field 515 can store theidentity of the user reporting information. This field can also containuser contact information, user history, and other related userinformation that may be needed by the case management system 145.

The initial date field 520 can contain the date of when the issue wasreported to the case management system 145. The stage one closed datefield 525 can contain the date the issue was resolved by the serviceagent in the case management system 145. The stage two closed date field530 can contain the date was the issue was updated to the knowledgebase125.

The issue description field 535 can store a description of the issue.The issue resolution field 540 can store a description of the resolutionof the issue by the service agent. The system configuration field 545can contain the information related to the hardware, software, andconfiguration information of the reporting user's system.

Returning to FIG. 4, the issue notification GUI 400 can farther comprisea later button 445. When activated, the control module 305 can beconfigured to close the GUI 400 and wait for a predetermined amount oftime. For example, the delay may be a half hour. The delay may be usedto allow the service agent to finish a current issue or is busy withother matters. However, in an effort to keep the knowledgebase 125updated, the control module 305 can return the issue notification GUI tothe service agent's display until the service agent closes the issuenotification GUI 400 by activating the submit button 440, that is, stagetwo of the two-stage close.

Returning to FIG. 3, in some embodiments, the user interface module 310can be considered an application program interface module which providesthe necessary tools and interfaces to communicate with other modules ofthe knowledgebase linker 150 and the other modules of the service portal115.

The control module 305 can be configured to couple with the casemanagement interface module 315, which provides a communication channelfor the control module 305 to receive a copy of the closed ticket or alink to the closed ticket. The case management interface module 315 canbe implemented as an application program interface (“API”), a functioncall, a remote procedure call, or other similar mechanism.

The control module 305 can be further coupled to the knowledgebaseinterface 320. The knowledgebase interface 320 can provide acommunication channel for the control module 305 to query theknowledgebase 125 as well as to update relevant information from theclosed ticket to the knowledgebase 125 either directly or by a link.Similar to the case management interface module 315, the knowledgebaseinterface 320 can be implement with an API, a function call, a remoteprocedure calls, or other similar mechanism.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram 600 executed by theknowledgebase linker 150 in accordance with yet another embodiment. Itshould be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art thatthe flow diagram 600 depicted in FIG. 5 represents a generalizedschematic illustration and that other steps may be added or existingsteps may be removed or modified.

As shown in FIG. 6, the control module 305 can be configured to receivea copy of the closed ticket from the case management system 145, in step605. The control module 305 can extract out the non-confidentialinformation from the closed ticket, i.e., service agent, issuedescription, issue resolution and system configuration, and temporarilybuffer the closed ticket. In some embodiments, the control module 305can receive a link to the closed ticket from the case management system145. The control module 305 can then query the database associated withthe case management system 145 to retrieve the non-confidential relevantinformation from the respective fields (530-540) of closed ticket record400 associated with the received closed ticket. This information canalso be buffered by the control module 305 when received.

In step 610, the control module 305 can be configured to perform a keyword search on the non-confidential information using a key worddictionary. The system administrators, technical support staff of theservice portal, and/or users may have determine the terms in the keyword dictionary. The resulting key words from the non-confidentialinformation can then be temporarily buffered by the control module.

In step 615, the control module 305 can query the knowledgebase 125 withthe extracted key words from the received closed ticket. The controlmodule 305 can then receive the results from the knowledgebase 125, instep 620.

In step 625, the control module 305 can display the search results fromthe knowledgebase 125. More specifically, the control module 305 canpopulate the received related entries from the knowledgebase 125 in arespective entry text box 410A-N in an issue notification GUI 400. Thenumber of text boxes being used is dependent on the number of therelated entries returned. The control module 305 can then send the issuenotification GUI 400 to the assigned service agent on the closed ticket.

In step 630, the control module 305 has received the selected relatedentries from the service agent upon activation of the submit button 440.More specifically, the service agent had activated at least one of theselector buttons 405A-405N to indicate the selected related entries.Subsequently, the control module 305 can be configured update theselected related information with the issue description, issueresolution, and configuration information or post a link to thisinformation, in step 635.

In step 640, the control module 305 has received the modified entriesfrom the service agent upon activation of the submit button 440. Theservice agent can select the appropriate selector button (405A-N) forthe related entry to be modified. Since the entry text boxes 410A-N areeditable, the service agent can add or delete the selected related entryas needed. Subsequently, the control 305 can proceed to the processingof step 635.

In step 645, the control module 305 has received a new entry uponactivation of the submit button 440. More specifically, the serviceagent selected the selector button 415 and added a new entry in the addentry text box 420. The added text is then updated along with the issuedescription, issue resolution, and system configuration information (ora link thereto) to the knowledgebase 125, in step 445.

For the processing associated with steps 630, 640, and 645, all threeevents can occur individually or in combinations. For example, a serviceagent can select any number related entries and add a new entry to theknowledgebase 125.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computing platform700 where an embodiment may be practiced. The functions of theknowledgebase linker 150 may be implemented in program code and executedby the computing platform 700. The knowledgebase linker 150 may beimplemented in computer languages such as PASCAL, C, C++, JAVA, etc.

As shown in FIG. 7, the computer system 700 includes one or moreprocessors, such as processor 702 that provide an execution platform forembodiments of the knowledgebase linker 150. Commands and data from theprocessor 702 are communicated over a communication bus 704. Thecomputer system 700 also includes a main memory 706, such as a RandomAccess Memory (RAM), where the knowledgebase linker 150 may be executedduring runtime, and a secondary memory 708. The secondary memory 708includes, for example, a hard disk drive 710 and/or a removable storagedrive 712, representing a floppy diskette drive, a magnetic tape drive,a compact disk drive, etc., where a copy of a computer programembodiment for the knowledgebase linker 150 may be stored. The removablestorage drive 712 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit714 in a well-known manner. A user interfaces with the knowledgebaselinker 150 with a keyboard 716, a mouse 718, and a display 720. Thedisplay adapter 722 interfaces with the communication bus 704 and thedisplay 720. The display adapter 722 also receives display data from theprocessor 702 and converts the display data into display commands forthe display 720.

Certain embodiments may be performed as a computer program. The computerprogram may exist in a variety of forms both active and inactive. Forexample, the computer program can exist as software program(s) comprisedof program instructions in source code, object code, executable code orother formats; firmware program(s); or hardware description language(HDL) files. Any of the above can be embodied on a computer readablemedium, which include storage devices and signals, in compressed oruncompressed form. Exemplary computer readable storage devices includeconventional computer system RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-onlymemory), EPROM (erasable, programmable ROM), EEPROM (electricallyerasable, programmable ROM), and magnetic or optical disks or tapes.Exemplary computer readable signals, whether modulated using a carrieror not, are signals that a computer system hosting or running thepresent invention can be configured to access, including signalsdownloaded through the Internet or other networks. Concrete examples ofthe foregoing include distribution of executable software program(s) ofthe computer program on a CD-ROM or via Internet download. In a sense,the Internet itself, as an abstract entity, is a computer readablemedium. The same is true of computer networks in general.

While the invention has been described with reference to the exemplaryembodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able to makevarious modifications to the described embodiments without departingfrom the true spirit and scope. The terms and descriptions used hereinare set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant aslimitations. In particular, although the method has been described byexamples, the steps of the method may be performed in a different orderthan illustrated or simultaneously. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that these and other variations are possible within the spiritand scope as defined in the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A method of linking, the method comprising: receiving an indicationof a ticket that was closed by a case management system, wherein theindication comprises a description of the closed ticket; comparing thedescription to a key word dictionary to identify a key word of thedescription that matches a term in the key word dictionary; searching,by a processor, a knowledgebase with the key word of the description toobtain at least one entry related to the closed ticket, wherein theknowledgebase comprises a set of revisable entries; updating the atleast one related entry with the description; and storing the updated atleast one related entry in the knowledgebase.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein searching the knowledgebase comprises: buffering the indication;and extracting the description from the indication.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving the at least one related entry;and populating the at least one related entry and the description in agraphical user interface.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprisingsending at least one of the graphical user interface and a link to aservice agent.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving aselection of the at least one related entry being associated with thedescription from the service agent.
 6. An apparatus for linking, theapparatus comprising: a processor configured to execute a controlmodule; a first interface coupled to the control module and configuredto receive messages associated with technical issues from a casemanagement system; and a second interface coupled to the control moduleand configured to exchange information with a knowledgebase, wherein thecontrol module is configured to receive an indication of a ticket thatwas closed by the case management system, wherein the indicationcomprises a description of the closed ticket, to compare the descriptionto a key word dictionary to identify a key word of the description thatmatches a term in the key word dictionary, to search a knowledgebasewith the key word of the description to obtain at least one entryrelated to the closed ticket, wherein the knowledgebase comprises a setof revisable entries, to update the at least one related entry with thedescription, and to store the updated at least one related entry in theknowledgebase.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control moduleis further configured to buffer the indication and to extract thedescription from the indication.
 8. The apparatus of claim 6, whereinthe control module is further configured to receive the at least onerelated entry and to populate the at least one related entry and thedescription in a graphical user interface.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein the control module is further configured to send at least one ofthe graphical user interface and a link to an assigned agent.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the control module is further configuredto receive a selection of the at least one related entry beingassociated with the description from the assigned agent.
 11. A systemfor linking, the system comprising: a processor configured to execute alinker; a case management system coupled to the linker, the casemanagement system configured to forward messages associated withtechnical issues to the linker; and a library system coupled to thelinker, the library system configured to exchange information with thelinker, wherein the linker is configured to receive an indication of aticket that was closed by the case management system , wherein theindication comprises a description of the closed ticket, to compare thedescription to a key word dictionary to identify a key word of thedescription that matches a term in the key word dictionary, to search aknowledgebase with the key word of the description to obtain at leastone entry related to the closed ticket, wherein the knowledgebasecomprises a set of revisable entries, to update the at least one relatedentry with the description, and to store the updated at least onerelated entry in the knowiedgebase.
 12. The system of claim 11, whereinthe linker is further configured to buffer the indication and to extractthe description from the indication.
 13. The system of claim 11, whereinthe linker is further configured to receive the at least one relatedentry and to populate the at least one related entry and the descriptionin a graphical user interface.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein thegraphical user interface is one of an HTML page, an XML page, and anSGML page.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the linker is furtherconfigured to send at least one of the graphical user interface and alink to an assigned agent.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein thelinker is further configured to receive a selection of the at least onerelated entry being associated with the description from the assignedagent.